EAST LANSING, Mich. - The University of Toledo women's and men's cross country teams had outstanding performances at the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing, Mich. on Friday. The Toledo women finished in third place, just three points behind Grand Valley State, while the Rocket men came in fourth.

Freshman Joy Chirchir and junior Faith Linga took second and third place, respectively, in the 6K race. Chirchir ran a time of 21:09.9, about four seconds behind medalist Jenna Magness of Michigan State (21:05.4). Linga was not far off the pace at 21:10.6. Junior Lou Trois (20th/22:35.9), sophomore Julia Dames (21st/22:37.4) and sophomore Amanda Tremains (32nd/23:07.4) rounded out the scoring for the Rockets.

"Today was a solid day; however, it is clear we will benefit enormously when we can get our full lineup out there later on the season," said Head Coach Andrea Grove-McDonough. "We have chosen to push back the start date for three of the women we expect to crack our top five, certainly our top six to seven. It's encouraging when we see these results, and we are anticipating an even stronger team later in the year. Having said that we had exceptional runs by Joy and Faith, who executed the race plan very well.

"I thought Lou and Julia were really really solid but may have suffered a bit from a very aggressive start. Normally we'd see Claire Steigerwald up there too, but I think that the heat was a factor. We also had very strong runs from Amanda Tremains, Hannah Sponaugle, and true freshman Morgan Hicks."

On the men's side, junior Mathew Chesum crossed the line in sixth place with a time of 24:58.8 in the 8K run. Juniors Kassim Kibet (27th/25:58.4), Jacob Harris (33rd/26:11.8) and Jake Rethman (34th/26:12.9), along with senior Raymond Korir (61st/27:03.3) also scored for Toledo.

"Chesum did a great job leading our men's squad today," said assistant coach Nick Stenuf. "We are going to regroup after this weekend and prepare for the next training block of this season. We are looking forward to having the full team together and ready to go at the Pre-National meet and then the MAC Championships."

Spartan Invitational
East Lansing, Mich.
Sept. 17, 2021

Women's Team Scores
1 Michigan State 36
2 Grand Valley St. 73
3 Toledo 76
4 U. of Chicago 141
5 Youngstown St. 176
6 Bowling Green 201
7 Saginaw Valley 230
8 Central Michigan 237
9 Calvin 243
10 Hope 265
11 Indianapolis 286
12 Purdue Fort Wayne 332
13 Illinois-Springfield 415
14 St. Norbert 423
15 Ferris State 426
16 Northwood (Mich.) 472
17 Albion 498
18 Lake Superior State 593
19 Olivet 608
20 Oakland CC 623

Women's Top Individuals
1 Jenna MAGNESS, Michigan State 21:05.4 
2 Joy CHIRCHI, Toledo 21:09.9 
3 Faith LINGA, Toledo 21:10.6 
4 Lynsie GRAM, Michigan State  21:24.4 
5 Kaitlyn HYNES, Unattached 21:35.9 

Toledo Individual Results
2 Joy CHIRCHI 21:09
3 Faith LINGA 21:10.
20 Lou TROIS 22:35.9
21 Julia DAMES 22:37.4
36 Amanda TREMAINS 23:07.4
39 Hannah SPONAUGLE 23:09.5
41 Morgan HICKS 23:14.4
49 Claire STEIGERWALD 23:21.7
53 Maya HANNAGAN 23:30.4
54 Rebecca SNYDER 23:33.1
107 Megan BURMEISTER 24:43.6
159 Krystal CLARK 26:00.2
174 Jordyn BOYER 26:39.6
182 Mallory FERGUSON 26:56.7

Men's Team Scores
1 Grand Valley St. 35
2 Michigan State 51
3 Youngstown St. 103
4 Toledo 161
5 U. of Chicago 165
6 Saginaw Valley 195
7 Calvin 200
8 Illinois-Springfield 229
9 Oakland 292
10 Purdue Fort Wayne 300
11 Central Michigan 315
12 Indianapolis 338
13 Northwood (Mich.) 361
14 Ferris State 379
15 Hope 389
16 Bowling Green 450
17 St. Norbert 484
18 Lake Superior State 537
19 Chicago State 583
20 Olivet 663
21 Albion 671
22 Oakland CC 695

Men's Top Individuals
1 Morgan BEADLESCOMB,  Michigan State 24:15.8 
2 Tanner CHADA, Grand Valley St. 24:20.6 
3 Isaac HARDING, Grand Valley St. 24:22.9 
4 Carlee STIMPFEL, Saginaw Valley 24:30.9 
5 Abdifetah AHMED,  Michigan State  24:43.4 

Toledo Individual Results
6 Matthew CHESUM 24:58.9
29 Kassim KIBET 25:58.4
39 Jacob HARRIS 26:11.8
40 Jake RETHMAN 26:12.9
80 Raymond KORIR 27:03.3
86 Jonathon HRIVNAK 27:07.8
90 Geoff HOWLES 27:10.8
123 Tanner DELK 27:49.5
140 Gavin LAMMERS 28:04.6
147 Cooper LOSEY 28:17.9